Business Briefs

STAFF WRITER, WITH AGENCIES

Bank of Taiwan chair promoted

Bank of Taiwan (台灣銀行) chairwoman Susan Chang (張秀蓮) was promoted by the Ministry of Finance to be the head of parent Taiwan Financial Holding Co (台灣金控) while retaining her bank chairmanship, the ministry said in a press statement yesterday.

Bank president Lo Tse-cheng (羅澤成) will act as the state-run financial service provider’s acting president, the statement added.

Shin Kong to issue certificates

Shin Kong Financial Holding Co (新光金控), which owns Taiwan’s third-biggest life insurer, will issue as much as 1.5 billion Global Depositary Receipts overseas, the company said in a stock exchange filing yesterday.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley will handle the share sale, president Victor Hsu (許澎) said by telephone yesterday. Hsu declined to say how much the company aims to raise.

LCD prices may rise 2 percent

The price for liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panels used in PCs and TVs are expected to rise an additional 1 percent to 2 percent in the second half of this month as panel supply may still be unable to match demand on inventory buildup, Taipei-based market researcher WitsView forecast yesterday.

A mainstay 32-inch TV panel may increase 2 percent, or US$2, to US$210 per unit in the second half of this month, from two weeks ago, the researcher predicted, while a 19-inch PC panel may rise 1 percent, or US$1, to US$81 per unit.

In October last year, Green Energy Technology invested US$8.25 million in the Chinese company, so yesterday’s transaction completes the current allocated investment goal of US$738 million.

The Taiwanese company, which is a subsidiary of Tatung Group (大同集團) owns up to 40 percent of the Chinese company’s stocks, while the rest is owned by the parent company.

Green Energy shares closed unchanged at NT$102.50 yesterday.

Local currency strengthens

The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rose for a fifth day, the longest winning streak in eight weeks, on speculation demand for the nation’s electronic exports would strengthen as the global economy recovers from a recession.

“The pendulum has swung back towards confidence that the recovery will proceed,” said David Cohen, director of Asian Forecasting at Action Economics in Singapore. “We’re sustaining the turnaround and electronics will benefit from that.”

The NT climbed 0.5 percent to NT$32.794 versus the greenback on turnover of US$1.009 billion.

Bank to expand into services

Taiwan Cooperative Bank (合作金庫銀行) plans to expand itself into a financial service provider after it first raises capital from NT$55 billion (US$1.7 billion) to NT$60 billion, president Tsai Chiu-jung (蔡秋榮) told an inaugural ceremony yesterday.

To facilitate the bank’s long-term development, Tsai, who replaced outgoing president Lin Tien (林田) yesterday, said that its joint insurance venture with BNP Paribas SA to form an insurance subsidiary would be established in Feburary.